It is a bittersweet Madness this March at the Yard. Our picks in the Yard pool have performed admirably but our Bruins did not make the second weekend of the event. We saw it that way as well but it still pains the Yard to be painted into that difficult intersection where DNA meets reality. We made the right choice but it still feels hollow.
Duke getting spanked by Villanova did ease some of the pain. Duke has seven McDonald’s All-Americans and has never been a Yard favorite. NBA legacy guard, Gerald Henderson, shot 1 for 14 in the loss to Villanova. If he went 7 for 14, Duke still loses but missing 13 of 14 was not only disastrous, it is a difficult thing to do. Duke has lost to a lower seeded team each of the past five years. If there is a silver lining in these turbulent times, it is that.
Why do Duke and North Carolina get so many McDonald’s All-Americans? Both schools recruit well and have respected programs run by legendary coaches. In basketball, most top recruits commit before their senior year. It has been suggested by more than one source, that a recruit to either school has a better chance of being selected as a MCD All-American during their senior year because said recruit accepted a scholarship at either school during their junior year. And how does the corporation who super sized a fast food nation become synonymous with basketball excellence?
Duke lost in the 1999 finals to the Richard Hamilton lead UCONN Huskies. The Blue Devils were lead by sophomores Elton Brand, Corey Maggette and William Avery. With those returning stars, Duke would have been back to the Finals in 2000 to secure legendary Mike’s 3rd championship. Back then, all the little Dukies drank the Coach K blue Kool aid, got treated like rock stars by the Cameron Crazies, and stayed four years.
Elton Brand became the first Duke sophomore to declare early for the NBA draft. Corey and William followed him right out of the Blue Devil cocoon. That was the day the music died for Coach K. That 3rd championship would come in 2001 and another Final Four in 2004. But five years of early exits from the tournaments to teams like Virginia Commonwealth underscores the value of a Mickey D All-American these days. Do you want fries with that power forward?
The Yard applauds USC’s fine run through the Pac-10 tournament and into the second round of the tournament. The Trojans have three future NBA players and that is the magic number for collegiate success. Demar DeRozan will declare and be selected in the top half of the draft. Taj Gibson should declare because he is not going to survive another year in the class room.
Daniel Hackett may declare. He has started for two years at USC since walking on as a non-scholarship athlete at this $50,000 a year school. Daniel’s father was hired by USC the year before he graduated from high school. As the son of a USC employee, Daniel received a free scholarship and USC did not have to waste one of these precious scholarships on their starting point guard. Hackett walking on was fortuitous because USC did not have another scholarship to waste. Lil’ Romeo became the scholarship to be named later in DeRozan recruitment deal. The Yard is researching our data but we could not find too many other BFF Scholarships deals at other D1 schools. These are maneuvers within the NCAA rules. It just reeks a bit, that’s all!
The Yard salutes the unprecedented and steady efforts of this UCLA senior class. These seniors played in 18 NCAA tournament games. Their class played in three final fours in their four years. They never won the big game but this group accomplished more than any other class since the field expanded to 64 teams. Alfred already graduated and is in graduate school. Josh and Darren will walk with their class. May the returning UCLA freshman and sophomores embrace this legacy and finish what these blue and gold warriors re-ignited.
All Time March Madness Pool Winner: Rick Neuheisel. University of Washington coach Nehheisel wins the athletic department office pool for $5,000. Rick gets fired by UW for lying about winning the office pool. Rick sues UW and wins $4.5 million for being wrongfully terminated for lying about winning the office pool. $4.5 million is sweet but winning the office pool…priceless.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Yard Snippet
First Daughter of the Yard turns 21 today. She called me earlier and it sounded like she was having her first beer. It was unclear through all the reverlry. We start her a wave, give her a shout out, she has outkicked our coverage and she is the leader in our clubhouse!
The Yard had no perception of our short lived, yet intense passion that we had for Siena and Western Kentucky. And with such short and limited allegiance to said schools, they delivered for our pool without recompense. Forever, the Saints and the Hilltoppers will be revered amongst the brotherhood of the Yard. If either team wins a second round game, they will not get the secret handshake. But alas, Yard allegiance can be fleeting.
UCLA seniors will play one last game for the Villanova home crowd on Saturday. The Yard was there the last three final fours with our Bruins. The Yard pines for a victory but picked Villanova in the pool. The new guidelines requiring emotional detachment for the greater good when money is involved has been difficult for Yard emotions. This policy has also lead to a most excruciating selection of dastardly UNC winning the title. Florida State failed us. Michigan State had better get to Detroit. And the Trojans better be going home on Sunday.
It was also just as shocking to realize that a team like Wake Forest could lose to a team called Cleveland State. The Yard most protest that if a Wake Forest frigging Demon Deacon does not beat a Cleveland State Viking, what does that say about not just this tournament but possibly life as we know it? And we really could have used that win.
BTW: David Beckham is being shared with AC Milan and the Galaxy in an effort to save soccer in the United States? Does the US also get to boot Victoria Beckham and get a Spice Girl to be named later? The Yard will mull over Scary, Dopey, and Grumpy Spice as options but AC Milan can have Posh and keep the underwear model also. Beckham and A-Rod should do the next bromance movie except they are only in love with themselves.
Last thought: Does it seem bizarre that while the entire financial system of this country was running amok and careening towards unknown disaster in 2008, there were steroid investigations by the FBI, IRS, and DEA? These long investigations were followed up by nationally televised congressional hearings with lying athletes. And this was about athletes taking steriods and this impacted our great nation how?
Congress needed to call Angelo Mozillo of Countrywide before them to explain why his company loaned money to people that they knew could not afford it so he could make $300 million at the expense of those millions of people. They did not need to call Roger Clemens to ask why he stuck juice in his ass to make $26 million for he and hi family at the expense of his testicles. Angelo should have to put his up his balls as collateral before his hearings. Democrat Henry Waxman, your obscene nostrils notwithstanding, you should be ashamed to have convened such a hearing.
The Yard had no perception of our short lived, yet intense passion that we had for Siena and Western Kentucky. And with such short and limited allegiance to said schools, they delivered for our pool without recompense. Forever, the Saints and the Hilltoppers will be revered amongst the brotherhood of the Yard. If either team wins a second round game, they will not get the secret handshake. But alas, Yard allegiance can be fleeting.
UCLA seniors will play one last game for the Villanova home crowd on Saturday. The Yard was there the last three final fours with our Bruins. The Yard pines for a victory but picked Villanova in the pool. The new guidelines requiring emotional detachment for the greater good when money is involved has been difficult for Yard emotions. This policy has also lead to a most excruciating selection of dastardly UNC winning the title. Florida State failed us. Michigan State had better get to Detroit. And the Trojans better be going home on Sunday.
It was also just as shocking to realize that a team like Wake Forest could lose to a team called Cleveland State. The Yard most protest that if a Wake Forest frigging Demon Deacon does not beat a Cleveland State Viking, what does that say about not just this tournament but possibly life as we know it? And we really could have used that win.
BTW: David Beckham is being shared with AC Milan and the Galaxy in an effort to save soccer in the United States? Does the US also get to boot Victoria Beckham and get a Spice Girl to be named later? The Yard will mull over Scary, Dopey, and Grumpy Spice as options but AC Milan can have Posh and keep the underwear model also. Beckham and A-Rod should do the next bromance movie except they are only in love with themselves.
Last thought: Does it seem bizarre that while the entire financial system of this country was running amok and careening towards unknown disaster in 2008, there were steroid investigations by the FBI, IRS, and DEA? These long investigations were followed up by nationally televised congressional hearings with lying athletes. And this was about athletes taking steriods and this impacted our great nation how?
Congress needed to call Angelo Mozillo of Countrywide before them to explain why his company loaned money to people that they knew could not afford it so he could make $300 million at the expense of those millions of people. They did not need to call Roger Clemens to ask why he stuck juice in his ass to make $26 million for he and hi family at the expense of his testicles. Angelo should have to put his up his balls as collateral before his hearings. Democrat Henry Waxman, your obscene nostrils notwithstanding, you should be ashamed to have convened such a hearing.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Let the games begin!
The madness of March has enveloped the Yard. Vast resources and focus groups have been redeployed. In an effort to corral the economic woes of the day, the Yard has invested heavily in trying to hedge which upsets could potentially dismantle one’s tournament pool. Forget the $165 Million the AIG boys are trying to justify, is Arizona going to upset Utah? Is UCLA running out of gas? And is USC for real for another day? Which school will have the thrill of victory? CNN and Fox News will fill in the agony of defeat.
The Yard does question why CBS Studio Host Greg Gumbel would encourage a national television audience to visit CBS.com to watch these 60+ games at work if they were unable to stay home and watch it on television. Marketing is not a core competency at the Yard. But even we might suggest that with double digit unemployment, encouraging the employed to f—k off at work and watch hoops might seem..well just a bit disconnected. NCAA championship hoops are huge, but CBS, get a grip? The US economy is already in the “play in” game and CBS.com is not your end game.
CBS does a great job with March Madness. In contrast, Fox could not have been any worse with the BCS. CBS does 60+ games over three weeks across the entire nation. Fox had six games over seven days in NFL Cities. Fox trotted out several announcers for BCS games that would never work at another network. CBS brings knowledgeable voices to every hamlet that the tourney is played. The games are memorable and the announcing is not the story. Fox will always be about American Idol not American Sports.
And damn, does it not seem that ESPN has become more about ESPN than the “SP” DNA that founded this unique enterprise? Sunday we had Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale bitch slapping each other about St. Mary’s being left out of the tournament. Young Jay against and grumpy Dickie V for, in a UFC ESPN Face-Off. First thought, St. Mary’s? Second thought, St. Mary’s? Jay B. and Dick V slapping each other over St. Mary’s in Prime Time was great theater. Dickie V, hello can you spell Billy Packer?
USC got up off the deck and became the 6th team from the Pac-10 to make the tournament in a year when the conference deserved four. Sorry, St. Mary’s, the Yard voted you ahead of the Trojans but they won their conference tournament. DeMar DeRozan showed the Nation why he is another “one and done” at USC with his play this past week. Not sure how the Trojans won three games in four days after losing six of seven the previous 21 days but with their only chance to the dance on the line, they were dancing fools.
What happened to the Bruins this year? Senior Luc Richard is playing 26 minutes a night in Milwaukee averaging 7.5/6.1. Sophomore Kevin Love is playing 25 minutes a night for the T-Wolves averaging 10.3 pts and 8.3 rebounds. And Junior Russell Westbrook is playing 33 minutes while scoring 16 points nightly for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
March Madness is not just rooting for the teams that you love, it is rooting against the teams that you hate. Yard dictum is clear to not let such emotions bleed into your brackets. UCLA Myopia has tortured us the past three seasons in our picks. Last year, we finished behind Big Ron and he chose his picks based on mascot names. Let the devil be gone!
The Yard roots against Duke and not sure why? It seems to be the school that the White Boy McDonald’s All-Americans attend. The Yard fretted that Duke might surpass UCLA’s legacy some years back when this vitriol was first brewed. The Yard will root against them and their coach with the funny mouth ad infinitum. Duke has lost so many times in the first round since, it seems like beating harp seals to root against them so follow your heart.
UNC might make the Final Four but dangummit if we do not hate those Tarheels always. In the case of UNC, it is their myopic fan base. They are like USC Football fans with mullets. You can argue with the Yard about our Tarheel nation vitriol and our legal counsel rebuts with two words…dental floss.
Tyler Hansbrough has 26 assists while taking 366 shots over twenty eights games this season. He is the way, the light and the third round loss of a team that has to rely on a Pyscho T who never gives the ball up. He is not the second coming of Larry Bird, he is the third coming of Mitch Kupchack.
The Florida Gators were Bruin arch rivals and they kicked some Bruin booty for two straight years. It is not just fair to call the Gators out when they can no longer get into the tournament. The SEC is a football conference. Billy Donovan, the Orlando Magic was a dream job. You should have followed your pocketbook; the heart can always be fed.
Christian Laettner, Tyler Hansbrough, Joakim Noah, they are all featured on the Yard dart board. What do they have in common besides Yard angst? They took all of their most important shots in college. None of these college stars was or will ever do squat in the NBA.
There is work to be done on the court, off the court and in our neighborhoods. The Yard has calibrated our priorities in these trying times but the spirit, passion and momentary brilliance of these next few weeks can kick start all of our spirits! Keep your friends and family close and your enemies closer.
“You never know who is swimming naked until the tide goes out.” Warren Buffet
The Yard does question why CBS Studio Host Greg Gumbel would encourage a national television audience to visit CBS.com to watch these 60+ games at work if they were unable to stay home and watch it on television. Marketing is not a core competency at the Yard. But even we might suggest that with double digit unemployment, encouraging the employed to f—k off at work and watch hoops might seem..well just a bit disconnected. NCAA championship hoops are huge, but CBS, get a grip? The US economy is already in the “play in” game and CBS.com is not your end game.
CBS does a great job with March Madness. In contrast, Fox could not have been any worse with the BCS. CBS does 60+ games over three weeks across the entire nation. Fox had six games over seven days in NFL Cities. Fox trotted out several announcers for BCS games that would never work at another network. CBS brings knowledgeable voices to every hamlet that the tourney is played. The games are memorable and the announcing is not the story. Fox will always be about American Idol not American Sports.
And damn, does it not seem that ESPN has become more about ESPN than the “SP” DNA that founded this unique enterprise? Sunday we had Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale bitch slapping each other about St. Mary’s being left out of the tournament. Young Jay against and grumpy Dickie V for, in a UFC ESPN Face-Off. First thought, St. Mary’s? Second thought, St. Mary’s? Jay B. and Dick V slapping each other over St. Mary’s in Prime Time was great theater. Dickie V, hello can you spell Billy Packer?
USC got up off the deck and became the 6th team from the Pac-10 to make the tournament in a year when the conference deserved four. Sorry, St. Mary’s, the Yard voted you ahead of the Trojans but they won their conference tournament. DeMar DeRozan showed the Nation why he is another “one and done” at USC with his play this past week. Not sure how the Trojans won three games in four days after losing six of seven the previous 21 days but with their only chance to the dance on the line, they were dancing fools.
What happened to the Bruins this year? Senior Luc Richard is playing 26 minutes a night in Milwaukee averaging 7.5/6.1. Sophomore Kevin Love is playing 25 minutes a night for the T-Wolves averaging 10.3 pts and 8.3 rebounds. And Junior Russell Westbrook is playing 33 minutes while scoring 16 points nightly for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
March Madness is not just rooting for the teams that you love, it is rooting against the teams that you hate. Yard dictum is clear to not let such emotions bleed into your brackets. UCLA Myopia has tortured us the past three seasons in our picks. Last year, we finished behind Big Ron and he chose his picks based on mascot names. Let the devil be gone!
The Yard roots against Duke and not sure why? It seems to be the school that the White Boy McDonald’s All-Americans attend. The Yard fretted that Duke might surpass UCLA’s legacy some years back when this vitriol was first brewed. The Yard will root against them and their coach with the funny mouth ad infinitum. Duke has lost so many times in the first round since, it seems like beating harp seals to root against them so follow your heart.
UNC might make the Final Four but dangummit if we do not hate those Tarheels always. In the case of UNC, it is their myopic fan base. They are like USC Football fans with mullets. You can argue with the Yard about our Tarheel nation vitriol and our legal counsel rebuts with two words…dental floss.
Tyler Hansbrough has 26 assists while taking 366 shots over twenty eights games this season. He is the way, the light and the third round loss of a team that has to rely on a Pyscho T who never gives the ball up. He is not the second coming of Larry Bird, he is the third coming of Mitch Kupchack.
The Florida Gators were Bruin arch rivals and they kicked some Bruin booty for two straight years. It is not just fair to call the Gators out when they can no longer get into the tournament. The SEC is a football conference. Billy Donovan, the Orlando Magic was a dream job. You should have followed your pocketbook; the heart can always be fed.
Christian Laettner, Tyler Hansbrough, Joakim Noah, they are all featured on the Yard dart board. What do they have in common besides Yard angst? They took all of their most important shots in college. None of these college stars was or will ever do squat in the NBA.
There is work to be done on the court, off the court and in our neighborhoods. The Yard has calibrated our priorities in these trying times but the spirit, passion and momentary brilliance of these next few weeks can kick start all of our spirits! Keep your friends and family close and your enemies closer.
“You never know who is swimming naked until the tide goes out.” Warren Buffet
Monday, March 9, 2009
Find The Madness!
The print and television media are doing an extraordinary job of relentlessly reporting negative economic data ad nauseum. As we pound another piton into our morning trying to eek out shallow victories in the carnage of that day , the news networks remind us that the worst is yet to come.
The Yard suggests that we all divert our attention to the escape and redemption that is March Madness. College basketball will reign supreme for the next month. By April 6, a new NCAA Hoops Champion will be crowned in Detroit. It is quite remarkable that this new champion will be crowned at the city that is the face and ground zero of this unfettered economic meltdown. All of the games are easily accessed from your sofa portal. Heroes are included with your basic cable.
So get engaged with something other than despair, famine and pestilence. Root for unpaid athletes who will perform heroic deeds, cheered on by brightly festooned fans and college coeds. If that is not a place you want to escape to, then by all means tune into the nightly news and remember there is still a seven day waiting period to buy a hand gun.
The Yard applauds the signing of Manny and the Dodger nation has weighed in with a boon in ticket sales and enthusiasm. Frank McCourt impressed us while staring down uber-Agent Scott Boras. Manny playing for a three year deal while playing under the terms of a one year deal is the best of Manny’s.
The MVP of the Lakers this year is Lamar Odom. Kobe is given the rope to do what he does every night. Lamar has to judge the length of his twine nightly in the shadow of Kobe. When Bynum went down, the Lakers could have stumbled like a Celtic sans Garnett. Odom did the brick and mortar work while the Kobe splashed the brilliance. The brick and mortar is required before brilliance can be applied. The Yard loves hard working athletes in the last year of a contract and brilliance always!
The recently released list gracing Pete Carroll as the highest paid employee of a private university in the entire United States did not surprise us. The $4,415,740 million that USC invests in one employee was not that shocking either in light of the local priorities for the myopic. It blew our minds that #2 on the list was Dr. David Silvers of the Columbia University School of Dermatology at $4,332,759. What the hell are they doing at Columbia anyway?
Anyone who is a member of this advertised Clipper Nation, please contact the Yard and let us know where you are hiding.
Commissioner Bud Selig announced this week that as commissioner he had unequivocally eradicated the abuses that he ignored as an owner. Bud is now paid $14 million a year to clean up a mess he helped make.
Let us stay the course, never out kick our coverage and find victories in our daily lives.
“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” Jacob Riis
The Yard suggests that we all divert our attention to the escape and redemption that is March Madness. College basketball will reign supreme for the next month. By April 6, a new NCAA Hoops Champion will be crowned in Detroit. It is quite remarkable that this new champion will be crowned at the city that is the face and ground zero of this unfettered economic meltdown. All of the games are easily accessed from your sofa portal. Heroes are included with your basic cable.
So get engaged with something other than despair, famine and pestilence. Root for unpaid athletes who will perform heroic deeds, cheered on by brightly festooned fans and college coeds. If that is not a place you want to escape to, then by all means tune into the nightly news and remember there is still a seven day waiting period to buy a hand gun.
The Yard applauds the signing of Manny and the Dodger nation has weighed in with a boon in ticket sales and enthusiasm. Frank McCourt impressed us while staring down uber-Agent Scott Boras. Manny playing for a three year deal while playing under the terms of a one year deal is the best of Manny’s.
The MVP of the Lakers this year is Lamar Odom. Kobe is given the rope to do what he does every night. Lamar has to judge the length of his twine nightly in the shadow of Kobe. When Bynum went down, the Lakers could have stumbled like a Celtic sans Garnett. Odom did the brick and mortar work while the Kobe splashed the brilliance. The brick and mortar is required before brilliance can be applied. The Yard loves hard working athletes in the last year of a contract and brilliance always!
The recently released list gracing Pete Carroll as the highest paid employee of a private university in the entire United States did not surprise us. The $4,415,740 million that USC invests in one employee was not that shocking either in light of the local priorities for the myopic. It blew our minds that #2 on the list was Dr. David Silvers of the Columbia University School of Dermatology at $4,332,759. What the hell are they doing at Columbia anyway?
Anyone who is a member of this advertised Clipper Nation, please contact the Yard and let us know where you are hiding.
Commissioner Bud Selig announced this week that as commissioner he had unequivocally eradicated the abuses that he ignored as an owner. Bud is now paid $14 million a year to clean up a mess he helped make.
Let us stay the course, never out kick our coverage and find victories in our daily lives.
“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” Jacob Riis
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